


A high-security prison probably shouldn't have wi-fi

by KeiC



Series: that wifi fic [1]
Category: Aldnoah.Zero (Anime)
Genre: Confessions, Crack Treated Seriously, M/M, Post Ep 24, but it doesn't really work out according to plan, floral symbolism, in which Inaho tries to be romantic, wherein it all started with a chat convo, yet not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-17
Updated: 2015-06-17
Packaged: 2018-04-04 09:48:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4132959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KeiC/pseuds/KeiC
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The prison gets wi-fi installed, Slaine does not know how to use a tablet; and Inaho enjoys putting passwords on said tablet, among other things.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A high-security prison probably shouldn't have wi-fi

**Author's Note:**

> Hello I'm KeiC or just Kei is fine in this case- anyway I'm typically on the sidelines as co-author to theworldstoodstill's "Two Days" but while she works on Two Days, I wrote this up in the mean time. (I asked her for help and stuff on this tho bc I need her to Slaine-check)
> 
> This all started when one of us mentioned wifi in the prison. It kind of just ended up into- _this_.(wow yes my first story is actually born from crack ~~it also ended up cheesier than I thought oh god~~ ) I'm happy about it though ahaha. So uh moving on! Please enjoy the story!

“You’re not serious.”  
  
“I am.”  
  
“Orange, have you lost it? There is _no_ way they’ll allow you to do that, famed war hero or no.” Slaine stares at Inaho with an incredulous expression. Really there were only so many favors they could grant the man, this definitely screamed _‘He’s pushing it’_.  
  
“I doubt whether or not I’ve ‘lost it’ is of any relevance to this. Why wouldn’t they? It would be highly beneficial to them to receive immediate updates on the status of their prisoner, it provides the prison staff with other activities, and it would also make writing and sending reports faster if they were sent via email as to the usual method of having to go to HQ and-“  
  
“ _Alright_ , I’ve heard enough. Fine, do whatever you want. I don’t really care, oh but if they reject your idea do tell. I’m sure it’ll be an amusing story.” He cuts him off, opting not to listen to the entire tirade of his reasoning; god knows how he comes up with these arguments.  
  
“I’ll be sure to tell you of the outcome by my next visit, for now I’ll have to take my leave and work on my proposal.” Inaho says as he stands up from his seat, the legs of it scraping against the floor of the cell and emitting a creaking noise.  
  
“Good riddance.” Slaine mutters as he watches the other walk away. He’d hope he didn’t come back and find something better to do, but did that ever happen how he wished it to? No.  
  
_“And it isn’t as if anything ever did.”_ He thinks, bitter still, walking back over to his bed to sleep. Dealing with Kaizuka Inaho always stresses him out one way or another…  
  


\---  


  


Its been a few days –or so he thinks- since that particular conversation, and yet again he sees Kaizuka walk through the door.

 _“That went faster than I expected it to.”_ He notes, as he moves and takes his seat at the table.

“How are you?” Inaho asks, seating himself as well and setting a bag of something by his feet.

“I’m just _wonderful_ , thanks for asking.” Slaine rolls his eyes. Why the other insisted on doing this each time he went here, he’d never know.

“I see.” He nods at him, probably ignoring the obvious sarcastic tone Slaine used. “Would you like to know how the discussion went?” He asks, setting up the chess board as per usual.

“You’ll tell me anyway, so go ahead. Did the golden boy _finally_ have his whims denied?”

 _“Golden boy? That’s new…”_ Inaho files the observation into memory, taking note that Slaine’s been more responsive lately. “I suppose I would, but that aside the discussions took a while but they saw that it would be more favorable for them in the long run. There were conditions to having it set up, however.”

 _“Typical. They either can’t deny Inaho anything or they’re horribly too gullible.”_ Slaine clicks his tongue at the thought, before he sighs. “And those conditions were?”

“The connection can only be turned on if I’m around, the same goes for usage of the tablet I asked for you. And both are locked by a password that only I have knowledge of at the moment.”

“Oh oka- wait. A _tablet?_ They let you get _away_ with asking for that?! For all you know I could access information on the outside or contact someone and tell them about this or- or anything! What were they thinking when they let you get your way exactly?” He asks, nearly hysterical in his disbelief.

“They didn't let me ‘get away’ with it as you said. I was aware they would doubt my motivations for asking for such a thing. I got them to agree by saying that there be a strict firewall restricting your access, they be allowed to have a record of your activities through it, and that it would likely provide you with some form of entertainment and not be the source of any problems for them to deal with in the near future. I’m currently arguing that looking through your history is far too much a breach of privacy, so we’ll see where it goes.” Inaho explains, before reaching down to the bag and procuring said tablet.

He hands the device over to Slaine, who'd visibly calmed down during his explanation, abandoning his plan of setting up the chess board and moving it aside. “You can use it, I presume the connection is opened by now.”

Slaine takes the proffered item and boots it up. “So in terms of restriction what can I even do on this thing?”

“The restrictions are only set far enough that you wouldn't be able to open government-run sites, social media, news sites, and various forums. All for obvious reasons which I’m sure you’re aware of. Apart from those other non-government pages, such as gaming sites and selected video sharing sites are clear.”

“Video sites are clear?”

“The content will be filtered of course.”

“I figured as much. Okay, put in the password. I can’t really use it without getting past this now can I?”

“You’re more than capable of typing out a password on your own, Slaine.” Inaho replies, the corners of his mouth twitching up a bit.

“I would if I knew the password.” Slaine says, glaring at him.

“Then I’ll tell you what it is.”

“Whatever.”

“Its ‘pinkcarnation711’.”

 _“Flowers? And pink carnations too… Have you any idea what those mean?”_ He wonders, typing in said password. “Isn’t this too simple?”

“I didn’t think it mattered.”

 _“Probably not.”_ He huffs, as if to rid himself of the thought. “And the numbers?”

“I thought using numbers from your birth date would be more convenient to remember.”

Slaine blinks at the reason. He was aware that such information was on file but what did it matter whether it was convenient for him or not? He shakes his head, opting instead to voice a concern. “…Whoever wrote those files of yours clearly needs to do better at their job, because I’m certain I was born on _January_ 11 and not _July_ 11.”

“I apologize, would you like me to change it?”

Slaine waves his hand in dismissal. “Like you said, it doesn’t matter.”

“Alright.”

A few moments pass, only the sounds of Slaine’s fingers tapping on the tablet screen filling the silence. It isn’t until Slaine starts to fidget slightly in his seat, brows furrowing as he looks at the device. It then occurs to him that he doesn't actually know what to do on the tablet, he gets the gist of it of course; tap around and select the application you wish to use and so on, but it wasn’t as if he ever needed to use something like this back in Vers much less use it for accessing the internet of all things.

“Is everything running fine?” Inaho inquires, the other’s look of discomfort not going unnoticed.

“Yes.”

“Then what’s wrong?” This time, if one had been around Inaho enough, you’d notice he was truly confused.

Slaine hesitated to answer. Not wanting to admit he needed help from the other due to his pride was stupid, that much he knew; but that was one of the only forms of defiance he had left.

“Slaine?” The other tries again.

Swallowing the lump that had formed in his throat, Slaine steels himself and says; “I… I don’t really know what to do.” He mentally reprimands himself for stuttering.

“I could run by the basic functions if you’d like.”

“…That would be helpful.”

Inaho then stands and to carry his chair with him as he goes around the table to where Slaine is.

“What are you doing?”

“I believe it would be easier to teach you like this rather than reach from across the table to point each thing out.” Slaine merely groans in response, he didn’t see a point in arguing anymore. Attempting to deter the other man can eventually get tiring, given enough time.

Now sitting beside the other, Inaho then starts to go through the applications that were permitted to be installed on the tablet. There wasn’t much on it, if you disregard the usual system apps; just the browser, a document writing application, an e-book reader, and a few games. The latter two Inaho added in himself after considering the possibility of Slaine using the tablet offline.

“Ah, okay I get it now. Easy enough… And er, I appreciate the forethought of adding in the e-book reader.”

“Its nothing, I simply thought it would be more efficient if you had an application that enables you to read books you’d like in the event I can’t get them for you. Although the books you download will have to be screened like everything else.”

“I can’t say I expected them not to be. Also, I never asked you to do that for me; so don’t make it sound as if I owe you.”

“That wasn’t my intention.”

“Of course it wasn’t. Now leave me alone to use this tablet, will you?”

“…They would turn the connection off I left.”

Slaine wanted to strangle him for that. And he could too; security was lenient enough at this point that he didn’t have cuffs on whenever Inaho came by, though now that he thought about it that was likely Inaho’s doing as well. Goddamn him.

“I meant go back to your side of the damn table, you insufferable-!” He doesn’t finish his statement, opting instead to slam his fist down on the table in frustration, causing a guard passing by to look through the bars. Inaho raises a hand signaling that everything was alright, before he does as the other says.

“It appears I misunderstood what you said.” Inaho blinks.

“Clearly.” Slaine scoffs, currently occupying himself with the device.

 

\---  


  


“It died.”

“What?”

“The tablet.”

“You are aware that tablets run on battery-“

“I know that! I meant to ask for the charger!”

“I’ll have to charge it outside as there aren’t any electrical sockets in your cell.”

The tablet lasted for approximately three days before automatically shutting down due to critical battery levels. Leading to the current situation; with Slaine’s tablet in the kitchen area left to charge, the two are back to the usual routine of playing chess. He realizes that he somewhat enjoyed using the tablet now that he doesn’t have it, but he wouldn’t grant Inaho the satisfaction of knowing that.

The game continues with the usual outcome of Inaho winning, though Slaine does notice that unlike most times when they play, today is one of the rare times he comes close to beating the other. However it is at that point that Inaho has to leave.

“The tablet should be finished charging in a few hours, I’ll just inform whoever’s in charge of bringing your dinner to take it with them.”

Slaine makes a shooing motion with his hand. “Just go.”

 

\---  


  


Inaho makes himself scarce after that. After one visit last week, the other left saying he’d be gone for a while due to work.

Its been nearly a month since then, which was near to a new record of the longest he’s gone without having to see Kaizuka’s face. Though he wasn’t ever actually sure if it was a month, but he had a calendar now.

Two days after that, he finds that he preferred it when he wasn’t sure of the time and how many days have passed. He didn’t feel obligated to count back then because he could simply give up after not caring being that he didn’t even have a clock much less any other way to correctly tell how much time had passed. He couldn’t use that excuse anymore. He blames the calendar.

Slaine doesn’t use the tablet for a week after that.

 

\---  


  


“I was told you weren’t using the tablet recently. Did anything happen to it?” Those were Inaho’s first words when he came back the following day.

“No. Everything is perfectly fine with the tablet. I just decided to go back to reading and sleeping things off for a while.” He sighs, not bothering to fix his slumped posture on the chair.

“I see. I apologize for being gone longer than I anticipated-“

“I never asked or wanted an apology.” Slaine snaps, glaring at him.

“…I’ll keep that in mind. I was called over to another base to oversee some operations and had to write a number of reports, but discussions for your privacy have pulled through.” Inaho nods, noting the other was seemingly angry for a reason he couldn’t fathom.

“…Great.”

“I also thought to change the password to your tablet, I meant to inform you today in case you couldn’t open your tablet but I see you aren’t using it.”

“Why change it?”

“No reason in particular, I simply felt like it. Although I suppose it would keep your memory exercised by a constant switch.” Inaho answers, once again pulling out a bag, but this time coming from within his coat pockets.

“I won’t ever understand how you work, Kaizuka.” He glances at the bag but ultimately shakes his head and stands up to get the device from the table by his bed, sitting up straight once he gets back to the table. “Well then what is it?”

“Ranunculus711.”

“…What?”

“Ra-“

“You know that isn’t what I mean, Inaho.” Slaine groans, pressing his palm to his face. Inaho sounds like he’s coughing, and Slaine looks up to see the other covering his mouth with a hand. If he didn’t know any better he might say the other was holding back a laugh or something, but as far as he knew the other didn’t _really_ laugh. So Slaine scrutinizes him further; Inaho still appearing as if he was coughing. A few seconds passed until his eyes widened in realization. The bastard _was_ laughing!

“And _what_ , pray tell, is so funny?” He scowls.

Inaho clears his throat before bringing his hand down, face back to its usual blank.

“I didn’t mean to laugh at you, I’m sorry.”

“That aside, I’m not even going to ask you what a ranunculus is. But what _is_ that?” Slaine looks at the small bag in question.

“Understood.” Inaho nods, then following Slaine’s line of sight, his eye lands on the power bank he brought. “..Ah, this is a power bank.”

Slaine raises a brow, wordlessly asking for an explanation.

“You use it to charge electronic devices such as the tablet without the need of having to plug into a socket. Of course the power bank itself needs to be charged to store the power needed, but for the most part you can use it to charge the tablet if you’re doing something on it and it already needs to be charged. That way you won’t lose any data and be able to finish whatever you were doing. I took the liberty of pre-charging it so you can use it already.” He explains, pulling out the cord for the charger and demonstrating what to do in the process.

“I see. It’ll be useful…” Slaine trails off, not really looking like he’s finished what he wanted to say. Inaho notices this, and stays silent letting him continue if he wished.

“…Thank you.” He finally says, face turned away from Inaho. _“I don’t want to have to thank him, but its only right…”_ He thinks begrudgingly.

“You’re welcome.” Is all Inaho says in return, choosing instead to watch Slaine. Part of him wonders why the other has turned away from him. Could there have been something wrong with his explanation?

Slaine slowly turns back to him, nodding in response; his attention more on the tablet than the man sitting across him. Opening up the browser searching for that book he was meaning to look up. Deciding to search what ‘ranunculus’ is as an afterthought.

He manages to download about two e-books to the series he was currently reading, and finds out that ranunculus was another flower, whose name just oddly sounded like that of a dinosaur of some sort. He then lifts his gaze from the screen to rest them and to ask Inaho something but the question got lost as he noticed Inaho staring at him.

“Inaho?”

“Yes?”

“Could you not stare at me?”

“I apologize.”

Things continue in somewhat companionable silence from then, Inaho tapping along with Slaine on his own tablet. Then sometime later, once Inaho has moved to leave, Slaine decides to ask what he couldn’t earlier.

“Inaho, wait.” He calls out, and the other man turns with a brow raised looking at him with his single eye.

“Why do you keep using flowers?”

Inaho blinks, Slaine considers taking back the question if he could.

“No particular reason.” He says, turning to leave and that was that. Yet Slaine could swear that he saw him smile.

 

\---  


  


It was a week later that the staff had finally mustered up their courage and decided to approach Inaho with a request. To permanently keep the wi-fi on even without Inaho being there.

“For what reason?” Is what he asks, but in truth he had anticipated this. If he were to be honest this was exactly what he wanted to happen once he got the rights to have wi-fi within the prison.

“Er, well. Sir, you see- uh we never really go home to see our families and recently ever since having the connection set up, we’ve been able to have some contact with them. And so, if possible, we’d like to keep the connection permanent so as to have constant communication with them.”

“Is that all?”

“…The others do enjoy using the internet for non-communication means as well and have invested themselves in games on their off days. O-Only on their off days of course!” The man –who he remembers is named Nakagawa- standing in front of him confesses, nervous that his revelation might affect the outcome of Inaho’s decision.

“…Very well, I’ll speak about it with the higher-ups.”

“Th-Thank you very much, sir!” He exclaims, going into a quick salute. Inaho can tell he looks excited to tell the others and that he’s proud of himself for being able to ‘convince’ him. Nakagawa then asks to excuse himself to do exactly as Inaho thought he would, Inaho gave him a nod as a sign of dismissal.

 

\---  


  


From then it isn’t until four months later, that his request was granted. Reducing the amount of his visits within said timeframe. Though it paid off as things went his way, with a bit of arguing; and personal accounts from the guards and others employed within the prison of course.

However with that, restrictions also grew. It could be kept on even without Inaho present, but it would have to be turned off at night, and from then Slaine would only be allowed the tablet with supervision and his use of it would start to be scheduled. Meaning that he wouldn’t be allowed the tablet during times where there would be no one available to keep watch on him. Or at least that’s what it was as they had agreed.

Upon his visit after receiving confirmation, he told Nakagawa and the others that from then the connection was permitted to be kept open regardless of Inaho’s presence. They were all visibly delighted by the news, though he had informed them of the new restrictions due to it. He thankfully didn’t receive any complaints.

Once he told Slaine about it, the other had looked like him as if he had grown a second head.

“…You have seriously poor taste in jokes.”

“Why would you think that I’m kidding?”

“Probably because oh _I don’t know_ , that’s absolutely impossible!?”

“…It apparently wasn’t. I assure you the connection will still be active once I leave. The downside of course is that your tablet usage is now scheduled. But I’ve been told that the guards trust you enough to be lenient about it.”

 _“Well he has a point about the leniency… Then again I stopped putting up a fight after two years or so.”_ Slaine sighs at the thought. You can never cease to be surprised about Kaizuka Inaho’s tenacity it seems.

“Okay, I believe you. They can’t ever say no to you can they?”

“It isn’t that I have special treatment but my reasoning wins out theirs in the end.”

“Yes, yes. You and your _impeccable_ reasoning.” He replies sarcastically, turning on his tablet as he went.

“Ah wait, I’ll have to install a file into your tablet in accordance to the restrictions.”

He hands over the device wordlessly, watching as Inaho connects his tablet to the other’s laptop. Probably to transfer whatever file it was. Some other way to monitor him, maybe? Or could it be a stronger firewall-type program? Well whatever it was, he would eventually find out as Inaho hands him back the tablet.

“What is it?”

“I’ll tell you later.”

“Later? You’ll likely be leaving in a few minutes what ‘later’ are you talking about?”

“You’ll see.” He says before standing up and leaving.

 

\---  


  


Slaine is interrupted from his reading by a flashing mailbox icon. As far he’s concerned that definitely _wasn’t_ there before. He suspects this is whatever Inaho installed and clicks on it anyway.

_[Kaizuka Inaho: Slaine.]_

He gapes at it, a _chat_ application? Inaho put in a _chat application_? He didn’t want to believe it but there it was in all its chatbox-like glory.

_[I can’t believe you.]_

_[A chat app? Really? How is this a restriction?]_

_[Kaizuka Inaho: I’ve since been required to monitor you even if I’m not there, hence the application. Don’t worry this is a private chat, the app was made by UFE programmers along with my help to have a private channel to not have anybody finding out about you if we used normal apps.]_

_[And that’s supposed to make everything better isn’t it.]_

_[Kaizuka Inaho: I’m not sure if you want me to answer that question due to how it was typed.]_

_[…Ignore it.]_

_[Kaizuka Inaho: Alright.]_

_[So are you the only person I can talk to on this thing?]_

_[Kaizuka Inaho: Well yes, although if you’d rather someone else from the UFE who is aware of your being alive then I could probably arrange for it.]_

_[No forget it, I’ll just deal with you.]_

He finds that Inaho isn’t replying, and he feels his lips twisting up to a smirk. It was certainly gratifying to have rendered the genius that is Kaizuka Inaho speechless.

_[Is it possible to change your name in this?]_

_[Kaizuka Inaho: It is but I don’t see how that’s important.]_

_[Tell me how.]_

_[Kaizuka Inaho: It should all be on the settings, its simple enough to follow from there.]_

So Slaine does just that, changing the other’s contact name. Was what he was doing petty? Most definitely. Did he care? Not at all.

_[Alright, I changed it. I like it much better now.]_

_[Orange: What did you change it to?]_

_[What did you think I’d change it to?]_

_[Orange: I have a guess.]_

_[Knowing you its likely to be on point isn’t it?_ ]

 

\---  


  


He was having breakfast when one of the guards brought his tablet in seeing the flashing mailbox. He has luckily finished eating by then so he didn’t have to trouble the guard to call him in again just to take his dishes; he thanks them and takes the tablet to see the message.

_[Orange: I won’t be able to visit you for a while.]_

_[I don’t really care whether you do or not but given that you’ll tell me what it is later once you come back anyway- what is it this time?]_

_[Orange: I’ll be sent to an overseas base for a month or so.]_

_[I see. Well whatever, I can always bother you through this anyway. You really should have put your own restrictions on this thing before you casually handed it to me you know. There’s nothing that would make me feel better right now than annoying you or interrupting you.]_

_[Orange: I hadn’t thought of that… If it would be beneficial to you then I guess I don’t mind.]_

_[It isn’t going to be ‘beneficial’ to me if you aren’t even going to be affected by it!]_

He scowls down at the screen, really how monotonous could the other get?

_[Orange: I’ll try to respond in a way that you’d find favorable.]_

_[It doesn’t matter if you’re not actually annoyed. Now go, I want to read.]_

_[Orange: Alright.]_

 

\---

  


_[Bat: Kaizuka.]_

_[Yes?]_

_[Bat: I have nothing better to do right now so I’m bothering you.]_

_[I see.]_

_[Bat: What are you doing?]_

Inaho glances at the small stack of papers he’s to read, sign, and/or send back if he has any concerns regarding them. They weren’t needed until two days from now so he supposed they weren’t of great importance.

_[Nothing too important.]_

_[Bat: And here I was hoping I’d actually interrupted while you were doing some official business. Tough luck.]_

_[I’m sorry to have disappointed you.]_

_[Bat: Are you really?]_

_[Bat: Well this is boring. I partly hoped to annoy you but seeing as that isn’t going to happen what do I do now?]_

_[Bat: Unless I talk to you; but then it isn’t as if there’s much to talk about between us.]_

_[You could if you wanted to, I am not against it. However I’ll have to withhold most information on the outside and those relating to my duties. Apart from those you can ask me anything, more or less.]_

_[Bat: Anything?]_

_[To an extent.]_

_[Bat: Well that just limits me to asking about you. Are you trying to piss me off on purpose?]_

_[I did not intend for you to take it that way. However I am afraid that our topics are strictly limited to each other. And so I’ll answer to the best of my abilities on what information I can tell you.]_

_[Bat: I suppose I’ll take what I can get…]_

Which lead to them exchanging basic information about each other, although Inaho notes Slaine never asked for his birthday. It was possible that he forgot, or he felt that it was unnecessary, though much of the discussion did revolve around their family backgrounds. Slaine had apologized for prying once he said that he lost his parents in Heaven’s Fall; his responses from that point being shorter and in longer intervals –likely to have thought it a sensitive topic, then eventually Slaine had excused himself, saying he wanted to sleep.

 

\---

  


Slaine soon picks up a habit of sorts of chatting with Inaho when he has nothing to do, its become often enough that Inaho isn’t too surprised when the familiar mailbox icon flashes.

_[Bat: Hey, Inaho. You busy?]_

_[Not at the moment, did you need anything?]_

_[Bat: What’s your favorite color?]_

_[Excuse me?]_

_[Bat: What?]_

_[That’s all you needed?]_

_[Bat: Just answer the damn question will you. Its not as if I need a reason to ask for anything from you. I’ll ask whatever the hell I want.]_

_[Blue.]_

_“Technically speaking sky blue would have been more accurate.”_ Inaho adds in his mind, then considering that it might lead to another ‘refraction vs rayleigh scattering’ argument, opted for just blue.

_[Bat: …I would have thought for sure that it would be orange.]_

_[If the choice of color of my kataphrakt unit from before led you to that conclusion, I will tell you that the reason I kept it orange is because if I chose to change it to blue, it would be harder to see in space and during the night and would later confuse my own comrades, being that the unit is originally orange.]_

_[Bat: Okay okay, I’m mistaken then.]_

He can almost picture Slaine sighing as he typed out the previous reponse.

_[What’s yours?]_

_[Bat: What’s my what?]_

_[Your favorite color, what else would I be referring to?]_

He has to wait a bit before the other answers.

_[Bat: Green.]_

_“Like the empress’ eyes.”_

_[I see.]_

 

\---  


  


“Ah, Slaine! Major Kaizuka sent us a message earlier saying he changed your tablet’s password.” The guard said as she brought in Slaine’s lunch.

No wonder he couldn’t open it last night.

 _“That piece of- don’t, Slaine do not. Not now.”_ Slaine takes in a breath to calm himself, “Thank you for telling me.” He manages a smile at her, partly to make up for the fact that he doesn’t remember her name.

“What did he change it to this time?” He asks, after taking the tray from her.

“Uh, ‘heliotrope’. That was it.”

 _“…Another flower? And no more numbers?”_ Confused by it, he simply thanks the guard in response.

“No problem, I’ll just be outside tell me once you’re done eating ‘kay?” She says, giving him a wave then walking out. Leaving him to eat and think. He really needed to do a lot of thinking to figure out all of this.

At this point it seems his suspicions might ring true. The two flowers from the earlier passwords meant _‘I will never forget you’_ and _‘You are radiant, I am dazzled by your charms.’_ respectively. He honestly didn’t think Kaizuka to be the romantic type. Well if you could call this romantic. It felt more like a murder mystery sans the murder part, though he might be close to doing that to Inaho.

That thought was also the reason for why he didn’t want to consider the possibility, because Kaizuka Inaho and romantic just didn’t seem to fit. At first he thought the other just went with flowers for no reason like he had said, and he’d have believed him not thinking him the type to go for flower symbolization and meanings. …But now he wasn’t too sure of that since they all pointed to one thing...

Kaizuka Inaho, orange, his greatest rival in just about anything he could think of; was possibly romantically interested in him. And the meaning of heliotrope as well as something else would be the key to him finding out about it.

 

\---

 

He had searched the meaning of heliotrope and found it to mean _‘devotion and/or faithfulness’_ and from that point there wasn’t any other excuse he could think for Inaho to have used this particular combination of flowers. Not when their meanings added up in succession like this.

So that night, while he lie in bed he had decided, no _swore_ to himself. He would get to the bottom of all this, whatever _this_ was. Grabbing the tablet with this in mind he opens the familiar app.

_[Orange.]_

_[Orange: Yes?]_

_[Why do you keep changing the password so often? And don’t give me that bullshit saying its nothing, if it really was nothing then you wouldn’t need to change it this frequently. Unless you’re doing this to rile me up. Then congratulations you’ve succeeded.]_

In his office on the other hand, Inaho sighs as he types out an answer to the other.

_[If you truly want to know, its to prevent hacking attempts. Recently a select few hackers have nearly broken into high security UFE files. I’ve taken a precaution to change the password to your tablet often in the event that someone may try to get into it by tracing back the IP addresses that you’ve used. At the very least if the security on the tablet itself doesn’t pull through the constant password changes might. Although now I suppose that will be the last change since they’ve calmed down.]_

He wasn't lying to him, there really were hacking attempts. But it wasn't the whole truth either.

_[Bat: …Oh.]_

_[Bat: But are you sure you should be telling me this? Isn’t this technically UFE related information which I probably shouldn’t have knowledge of?]_

_[Well, usually. But I suppose just this can be an exception as it does concern you directly.]_

_[Bat: …I see.]_

_[Was that all you wanted?]_

_[Bat: Yes. Sorry for bothering you.]_

 

\---

 

He couldn’t do it. After the entire speech with the hackers and everything, he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t ask the question he had _actually_ been meaning to ask. Part of him doesn’t want to, because after the whole explanation he felt he may have been too full of himself with that assumption… But regardless of the fact, he knew he wouldn’t be able to rest well until he did.

So he decided to try again.

And he had decided to do it now in the middle of one their usual conversations, to make it flow along more freely than straight up coming at Inaho with it.

_[When’s your birthday?]_

_[Orange: February 7th. Why do you ask?]_

_[…No reason.]_

Then it clicked. The flowers and even the numbers, it all fell into place. There was an actual reason for the 7 in ‘711’, it wasn’t a mistake on his birthday. He should’ve known Inaho wouldn’t make such a rookie mistake, and it was unlikely that the records were wrong as he had to fill them in himself when he was first brought in five years ago.

There was just one thing to ask now, and whatever the other answered with would either confirm or amplify his suspicions.

_[I have another question.]_

_[Orange: What is it?]_

_[Do you know the meanings of the flowers you’ve been using?]_

It was a bit bold to go with the question phrased like that but he couldn’t really take it back anymore.

Inaho wasn’t replying. He couldn’t have nodded off, and it wasn’t like Inaho to well- not reply even to say he couldn’t answer the question. What was wrong on his side?

 

\---

 

“He finally got it.” Inaho said to himself, staring at Slaine’s question.

Normally, one would be delighted at this. Having the person who holds their affections finally realize their intentions. But right now, Inaho –for once- didn’t know what to do. For the most part he felt that Slaine didn’t return his sentiments. Expressing that he hated him for the earlier part of the five years he’s spent having the other as his charge.

And so not entirely sure how to respond he decides to deny it. Lying and pretending he knew nothing was better than outright rejection.

_[No, I don’t.]_

 

  
  
  
  
  


\---

 

_[Orange: No, I don’t.]_

Slaine stares at the typed response, as if staring at it hard enough would force the pixelated letters to turn into something else.

“What do you mean you don’t!?” He blurt out in his rage, he’d probably go so far as to throw the tablet to the wall if the device wasn’t his only way of communicating with Inaho at the moment.

What did he mean by _that_? How could he _not_ , does he take Slaine for a fool or something?

 _“I swear to god I will make him admit it to me if I have to. Inaho isn’t getting away from this that easily.”_ Slaine thinks, glaring down at the screen no longer bothering to think of a reply as he thinks of various ways he could possibly make the other man admit his feelings.

 _“It would make a nice story; Kaizuka Inaho who nobody thought would have even_ considered _things like romance and such, has feelings for me-“_ He cuts that train of thought as realization struck.

“He has feelings for me.” Slaine mutters to himself.

“ _Me._ His _rival_. The guy who’s tried to kill him and has stated that he’s hated him more than once, until about two years ago. He shouldn’t feel like this towards me, _I_ shouldn’t be happy about finding out that he does either! He should hate me, or at least be apathetic. He isn’t making this any easier on me.” He drops the tablet onto the bed, choosing instead to drop on the mattress and curl in on himself.

“Why am I happy about it anyway? I shouldn’t be affected at all or have looked into it unless-“ He eyes widen, hands flying up to grasp his head. 

“No. No. _No!_ I can’t. Its impossible! I- I can’t _like_ Inaho!” His curls in on himself further, vehemently denying the possibility. His mind doesn’t seem to agree him however, flashing various events involving the other. 

The first time Inaho had brought him homemade food when he had refused to eat during the earlier part of his sentence, how Inaho had looked somewhat amused when he couldn’t use the chopsticks he brought correctly, when he had laughed at what was supposed to be Inaho’s drawing of a bird he had described, and the other bringing him books that ended up enjoying even if he tried to deny it. 

And then it hit him, now lying down on the bed staring at the ceiling. He liked the other back, or possibly already liked him before he even realized that he did. It would explain why he got particularly irritated at the other after he’d been gone for some time, going so far as to actually count how long he'd been gone. 

He laughs at himself. “I can’t believe it. What the hell is wrong with me? Goddamn it, this is entirely _your_ fault Inaho.” 

Oh he would make the other _pay_ for making him go through the trouble of having to figure out that damn puzzle of a confession. If you could even call it that.

Upon his next visit Inaho would be in for it he would make sure of that.

  


\---

 

As soon as Inaho makes it through the door after a month and a half of being away for his UFE duties, Slaine makes his move.

“Inaho who are you trying to fool?” He cuts to the chase, staying still as he stood beside the table where they usually interacted.

“…I don’t seem to follow what you’re referring to.” Inaho sounded confused, good.

“I know you lied.”

“What do you mean by that exactly?” if he listened hard enough it was possible that the other’s voice faltered in the beginning a bit.

He glares at him, eyes looking sharper, cat-like as he walked toward the other. “What I mean by it?” He asks, not expecting an answer.

“All of it, Kaizuka. The passwords, the numbers, those flowers you claimed to know nothing of. _Everything._ You must think me an idiot to not be able to figure that out.”

It seems that Inaho was avoiding his gaze somewhat, though he probably wouldn’t notice had he not paid the other as much attention during the time he’s spent with him. “No, I fully expected you to figure out my intentions eventually. Yet now that you have, I’m not entirely sure what to do…”

“What?”

“It likely doesn’t make a difference since you probably don’t feel the same, so you don’t need to do anything about it.” Inaho looks straight at him as he says this and it nearly makes Slaine lose his composure.

No he wouldn’t give in, he would _not_ feel sorry. He had to do this. So before Inaho could start walking farther towards the table and away from him, he grabbed him and gave him a rather hard punch to his abdomen. Nothing too painful to actually damage anything, but just enough to make it hurt and he had to admit- it felt _great_.

And he would spend more time being happy about being able to punch him too, but right now Inaho was struggling to stand upright, clutching the affected area and coughing. Which shouldn’t make him worry being that he was the cause but he was worried anyway. Sighing at himself, he carried the other over to the table.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m not sure if you would like me to be ‘okay’ given that _you_ punched me.”

A roll of the eyes.

“Just answer.”

 _“And don’t expect me to apologize for it, after all that I should’ve done more.”_ Slaine thinks.

“No, I am obviously not.”

“Well you brought this upon yourself. Do you want me to call the guards for anything?”

“No, that won’t be necessary. I believe the pain will subside with time and isn’t anything to be concerned over.”

“I’m not concerned. I just don’t want to be punished in case anything did happen to you, you’re certainly more fragile without your kataphrakt you know.”

“I apologize for not being trained to accept such a blow, but why did you hit me in the first place?”

“Because you have feelings for me.” He said not missing a beat.

“…That isn’t an answer, Slaine.”

The other sighs, he didn’t want to have to say it but the other was simply too dense. Oh but he’d make him work for it, it was still revenge after all.

“Well, if you must know I’d have thrown a bunch of ambrosias at your face instead, maybe the pots they’d come with too, but given our current situation. I can’t very well do that now can I?” He answers.

So later once Inaho leaves, admittedly confused by the other’s statement, had sought to find out what ambrosias meant.

 

\---

 

Slaine had of course expected him to go and search for it. That was exactly what he wanted. So it was no surprise that he saw the other walk back into his cell the next day looking as if he had wanted to run through the hall and through the door to immediately get to him but couldn’t. It was an amusing sight, honestly.

What he said however, had shocked him.

“I could bring a bouquet of ambrosias for you to throw at me if you’d like.” There was no mistaking it this time, as unnoticeable as it was, Inaho was definitely smiling.

"...You really _have_ lost it, haven't you?" And so was he.  


**Author's Note:**

>  _ambrosia: your love is returned_  
>   
>  (it was just supposed to be dumb boys fiddling with technology I swear ~~and I wanted to call Inaho a 'conniving piece of shit' at one point but I couldn't find any openings~~ and I had ideas for a little extra at the end but then eh)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [A High-Security Prison Probably Shouldn't Have Wi-Fi: Drabbles](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4420355) by [KeiC](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KeiC/pseuds/KeiC), [theworldstoodstill](https://archiveofourown.org/users/theworldstoodstill/pseuds/theworldstoodstill)




End file.
